On November 4, 2008, [[Max Baucus]] won re-election to the [[United States Senate]]. He defeated Bob Kelleher ([[Republican|R]]).<ref>[http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2008/2008Stat.htm#stateMT ''U.S. Congress House Clerk'' "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 2008"]</ref>

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On November 4, 2008, [[Max Baucus]] won re-election to the [[United States Senate]]. He defeated Bob Kelleher ([[Republican|R]]).<ref>[http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2008/2008Stat.htm#stateMT ''U.S. Congress House Clerk'', "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 2008"]</ref>

{{Election box 2008

{{Election box 2008

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===2006===

===2006===

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On November 9, 2006, [[Jon Tester]] was elected to the [[United States Senate]]. He defeated the incumbent Conrad Burns ([[Republican|R]]) and Stan Jones ([[Libertarian]]).<ref>[http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2006/2006Stat.htm#26 ''U.S. Congress House Clerk'' "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 2006"]</ref>

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On November 9, 2006, [[Jon Tester]] was elected to the [[United States Senate]]. He defeated the incumbent Conrad Burns ([[Republican|R]]) and Stan Jones ([[Libertarian]]).<ref>[http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2006/2006Stat.htm#26 ''U.S. Congress House Clerk'', "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 2006"]</ref>

Incumbent Jon Tester (D) won re-election to the U.S. Senate on November 6, 2012.[1]

Candidate Filing Deadline

Primary Election

General Election

March 12, 2012

June 5, 2012

November 6, 2012

Primary: Montana has an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.

Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by February 11, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 6, 2012. Late registration is also available through the close of Election Day.[2]

Incumbent: The election filled the Class 1 Senate seat, which was held by Jon Tester (D). First elected in 2006, Tester ran for and won re-election in 2012.

Candidates

Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals were added after official election results had been certified. For more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan, click here. If you find any errors in this list, please email: Geoff Pallay.

According to the website Daily Kos, this race was one of nine top-ballot 2012 races that contained Libertarian candidates who received more total votes than was the difference between the Democratic winner and the GOP runner-up. In this case, Dan Cox took in over 12,500 more votes than the number that separated Tester and Rehberg.[3]

Also running in 2012 were Libertarian candidates Dan Cox and Jerry McConnell.
The unusual presence of two Libertarian primary contenders in the race has led the state’s election chief to put both Libertarian candidates on the general election ballot instead of conducting a costly and separate Libertarian primary.

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said that a separate Libertarian primary would have cost counties a combined total of $350,000 to $390,000.

Libertarian primaries typically draw anywhere from 3 percent to 5 percent of the general election vote, but counties would nevertheless have been required to print the same number of Libertarian ballots as they do Republican and Democratic ones.

State election officials cited Montana law (MCA 13-10-209), which stated that the election administrator did not need to prepare a primary ballot for a party that did not have candidates for more than half the offices on the ballot.[9]

Competitiveness

Republican leaders targeted SenatorTester, who they saw as the key to their takeover of the Senate. Polls showed a tight race between Tester and Rehberg heading into the November general election. The New York Times' analysis of the 2012 Montana Senate race rated it as a toss-up; the seat was held by a Democrat, but could have switched to Republican.[10]

Sabato's Crystal Ball

The University of Virginia's Center for Politics published an article called Sabato's Crystal Ball on March 22, 2012, detailing the eight races in the Senate in 2012 that would decide the political fate of which party would end up with control in 2013.[25] The seat rated a toss-up that the Sabato's Crystal Ball believed was most likely to change hands was the Senate seat in Montana.[25] The article noted that incumbent Jon Tester was a slight underdog against challenger Denny Rehberg.[25]

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

On May 1, 2012, Public Policy Polling (PPP) released the results of a survey in which incumbent MontanaSenatorJon Tester pulled ahead of his Republican rival, Denny Rehberg, leading him 48 to 43 percent. In most prior polls, Rehberg had been leading incumbent Tester by a few percentage points.[26]